


Felis Concolor

by PinkLady80



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Animal Transformation, M/M, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15375243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkLady80/pseuds/PinkLady80
Summary: When Ema Matthews arrives to care for her son, who has turned himself into a puma, she sees change on the horizon.





	Felis Concolor

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction and contains off-page Unresolved Relationship Tension and fear of rejection.

Ema Matthews isn't sure what to expect when she opens her son's backdoor at midnight, but it isn't the soft light over the kitchen sink or the clear path leading from the door to the hallway. 

 

Long experience has taught her that Auston lives in a cave; he won't turn a light on unless forced to by things outside his control.  He isn't the neatest person either and can always be found by following the trail of shoes or gear that he leaves in his wake.  An expensive trail of pebbles.

 

Her shins breathe a sigh of relief and, as she's passing by the fridge, a piece of paper catches her eye.  "Mama Matthews, soup for you!"  There's a smiley face next to the bloc writing. 

 

Opening the fridge door, she finds a mug, three-quarters full.  She doesn't normally eat this late but Mitch was kind to prepare it for her.

 

Mitch is always kind.

 

As the microwave goes about its business, Ema reviews the last 18 hours.  Mitch's 8am call, his apologies and explanation of the previous five days, and Ema's last-minute packing.  Mitch had looked drawn over the Skype connection and Ema couldn't tell if his unusually sharp cheekbones was due to the time of year or the stress of caring for an Auston who couldn't communicate with words.

 

She extracts the mug before the microwave has a chance to beep at her and moves a spoon through the soup.  Tomato.  The mug is warm and solid in her hands and she spends a few minutes enjoying it.

 

What must be Auston's breakfast, a very large steak, is thawing in the sink.  Ema turns the light off and goes in search of her son.

 

Ema has always thought that Auston's taste in home decor makes his house feel like it belongs a magazine.  The lines of the furniture run sharply horizontal or vertical, mostly in white, grays, and black.  Any accessories are minimal and equally modern.  It has always looked like the house of a wealthy, single man who spends very little time in it.

 

But as she moves through the lower level, there are significant changes.  The green throw-blankets in the home-theater, the downstairs bathroom with its fresh coat of navy paint, and a little lamp on a new table in the entryway.  Auston has found someone he would like to make a home with and Ema can guess who. 

 

She moves carpet samples from the stairs to the little table before seating herself, turning the idea over in her head. 

 

Mitch Marner has always been a constant in Auston's life since his move to Toronto.  In the early years, he was Auston's always-smiling, big-hearted, excitable friend and someone whom she and Brian have always liked.  Mitch was someone Auston Skyped with over the summer and had always seemed more relaxed in his presence.  She had the feeling that they had grown closer over time, but Ema had always attributed that to the length of their friendship and a hockey brotherhood.

 

Ema had seen the start of a gradual change a year after Auston bought his house.  Suddenly, her son was spending more of his off-season in Canada.  She could hear Mitch outside the Skype frame more frequently or just make out the feet that Auston had pulled into his lap.

 

Suddenly, the reason Auston turned into a puma becomes clear.  He hasn't told anyone about his feelings.  He's afraid.  Afraid of rejection.  Rejection by his friends and his team.  More importantly, he's afraid of being rejected by Mitch.

 

The last time Auston had changed like this, he had been 13 and telling Ema he wasn't interested in girls.  The rushed words had hardly left his mouth before he was changing and disappearing outside.  She and Brian had looked all over for him until one of the neighbors telephoned, saying there was a large cat laying on their roof and did the police need to be called?

 

Auston isn't 13 anymore but the need to not be a disappointment is as strong as ever.

 

Ema feels the air grow heavy behind her and she knows it's Auston.  He comes into her line of sight, big paws silent on the carpet.  As she runs her hand over the sand and sable coat, he knocks his head against her knee, a greeting leftover from childhood, before putting his head in her lap, eyes closing.

 

Ema doesn't know how long they stay there, Auston's tail making thumping noises against the banister, but suddenly exhaustion is digging its long fingers into her eyes.

 

She turns off the lamp, leaving her mug on the little table; clean-up can wait. Auston keeps himself firmly between her and the only open bedroom door.  With the help of a new night-light, Ema can just see the lump under the blankets.  She allows Auston to heard her into her normal bedroom and he stares at her until she closes the door.

 

Her family is going to change, expand.  She can feel it coming.  More people around the dinner table.  More laughter.

 

She cracks the door just enough to see the other bedroom. Auston laying upright in the doorway, still as a sphinx, paws tucked under his chest.

 

She can't wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I think there isn't enough Mitch/Auston seen through an outside party and there definitely isn't enough Ema Matthews, so I wrote a story I wanted to read. 
> 
> Off-page Extras:  
> \--Pumas are native to Arizona. Males are 7.9ft from nose to the tip of their tail and can weigh up to 220lbs.  
> \--Auston is a puma for four weeks.  
> \--Mitch faithfully picks up Auston for every home practice and tape review and the team finds it disconcerting that he's a big cat.  
> \--Someone quips Auston for looking like a rug when he's stretched out. That someone gets a puma yawning in their face. Auston loves being an apex predator.  
> \--He turns back when Mitch, feeling like a failure, breaks down in Auston's entryway.  
> \--When Auston turns back, he lands on top of Mitch. Naked. Face up. In front of his mom.  
> \--Ema Matthews doesn't care. She changed her son's diapers for three years.  
> \--When Ema leaves, Mitch gets a little choked-up as they hug. Auston breaks the mood by lifting his boyfriend and his mother off the ground simultaneously.


End file.
